Tag: huitlacoche

Postcard from Oaxaca, Mexico: Two more dining destinations

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The enclosed patio of Los Danzantes is always a favorite, with top-notch service and a diverse menu. With the accompanying tortillas, the queso fundido appetizer with an abundance of huitlacoche, corn smut, is hearty enough to completely fill up two. The delicate tuna tartar tostadas are a more manageable starter for venturing farther down the menu. A giant leaf of hoja santa is filled with goat cheese and surrounded by a tangy sea of tomatillo sauce. Regional goat cheese flavors the creamy rice and fills a hearty serving of chicken with a huitlacoche sauce. The chocolate cascada releases warm, molten chocolate, and crème brulee is tinged with fragrant rosemary.

cascada de chocolate at Los Danzantes
coco de jamon at El Olivo Gastropub
shrimp with pernod at El Olivo Gastropub
tuna tartar tostadas at Los Danzantes
arroz negro at El Olivo Gastropub
fried bread at El Olivo Gastropub
vegetarian lasagna at Los Danzantes
apple tart at Los Danzantes
Los Danzantes
eggplant at El Olivo Gastropub
El Olivo Gastropub
chicken stuffed with goat cheese in huitlacoche sauce at Los Danzantes
coffe ice cream at El Olivo Gastropub
queso fundido with huitlacoche at Los Danzantes
goat cheese wrapped in hoja santa at Los Danzantes
rosemary creme brulee at Los Danzantes
seafood paella at El Olivo Gastropub
creamy rice at Los Danzantes

Many people head to El Olivo Gastropub for tapas, but we found their main seafood dishes are amazing, even after spending six weeks in Spain this past summer. The arroz negro, blackened with squid ink and fortified with an assortment of seafood and vegetables, was the Mister’s favorite dish during our month-long stay in Oaxaca. The pernod flavoring the shrimp dish had me hooked. The coffee ice cream with nut brittle tucked under it was both better and, amazingly, less expensive than the helados peddled on the Plaza Socrates in front of Soledad. The rooftop is fanned by breezes on even a warm afternoon.

Postcard from Oaxaca: Two upscale restaurants not to miss

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My regular followers are probably abandoning me as I obsess about the foods of Oaxaca, but I really want to have posts with photos to help people visiting Oaxaca for a shorter period of time make decisions about where to dine. Besides, we’re about to head home, so this blog will soon resume its San Antonio-centric focus.

We almost skipped Casa Oaxaca El Restaurante this trip. Don’t. Five years ago, we found it a little boring and stuffy compared to newer places. But the rooftop setting is spectacular; the service standards are resort-like; the stuffiness has evaporated; and the overall experience transcends any minor quibbles.

The salsa is made tableside to customize the heat, and the crumbly cheese tostada arriving with it was a perfect accompaniment. Our two salads (read more about Oaxacan salads here) came with diverse cheeses and interesting fresh ingredients. They were, however, horribly over-dressed; definitely ask for the dressing on the side.

Casa Oaxaca’s shrimp tostada was mounded high. The turkey mole was a rather straightforward, traditional presentation – good but not over-the-top memorable. There are more inventive sounding, and more expensive, entrees available. Go for an extremely pleasant, worth-lingering-over experience.

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Things the kitchen turned out in the tiny inner courtyards of Origen amazed me. Cold dollops of beet granita contrasted well with roasted beets and pillowy mounds of foamed goat cheese in one salad. An interesting mixture of celery leaves, squash blossoms and purslane actually grabbed more attention then the tender pulpo topping it. A grilled romaine salad was overpowered a bit by the rich sauce, but every bit disappeared. More lima beans in it next time, please.

A poached egg was perched in a soup bowl before the toasted garbanzo soup was ladled atop it. Another cooling granita, this one with hints of rose, topped a shrimp and fish ceviche. Medallions of smoky pork had been wrapped with lean bacon and hoja santa leaves before a mole colorado was added. Oh, and the the flavors of a huitlacoche risotto ringed with foam were incredibly good. Go to Origen at least twice.

Buen provecho!

 

Postcard from Oaxaca: Now about that food…

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Only taking you out to one place to eat today because it was one of our favorites on our last trip and remains so. We keep returning, but not for the same dish.

Everything is well executed and beautifully presented, and there are so many things on the menu at Los Danzantes still beckoning us to try. Even something as small as complimentary jamaica (hibiscus) and crumbly cheese tostadas presented to us the other day are perfect. The deep red, richly flavored chilpachole, a soup stocked with crab, fish and vegetables should not be skipped, and chile ancho relleno filled with huitlacoche (large kernels of mushroom-like corn mold) atop a puree of roasted platanos and coconut with goat cheese, chapulines (more in a coming post) and caramelized piloncillo (unrefined sugar) is memorable.

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Not surprisingly, we encountered some of the country’s best-known chefs slipping into Los Danzantes during the midst of and celebrating at the end of the recent Festival Gastronomico El Saber del Sabor.